Google uses over 200 ranking factors in their algorithm and backlinks are among the top 3.

Backlinks are valuable for SEO because they represent a vote of confidence from one site to another. The more votes, or backlinks, a website gets from other relevant pages, the more likely it is to rank in Google Search.

What Are Backlinks?
Backlinks are links from other websites to your website. They are also called inbound links. Getting quality links to your website is important for you to rank well. Google considers backlinks as votes for your website and its content, which shows that the quality of your content is good. (You should already have backlinks from obvious sources like local directories, organisations you sponsor, businesses you support etc. so this article gives you more creative ideas on how to get quality backlinks to your website)

Why Are Backlinks So Important?
As explained a backlink is a vote of confidence and it tells Google that you have high-quality content on your website. The more of these "votes" you have, the better your search engine ranking will be.
Even though Google has made many changes to its algorithm, backlinks still remain as a strong ranking signal.

Link quality…
In 2012, Google introduced an update called Google Penguin in an effort to reward high-quality websites and get rid of poor-quality websites from the SERPs (Search Engine Result Page) that are engaged in manipulative link schemes and keyword stuffing.

What Are High-Quality Backlinks?
A good quality backlink has 5 characteristics.

• * They come from authoritative websites
• * They include a relevant and keyword-rich anchor text
• * The source domain should be related to your site
• * Backlinks should be a do-follow link
• * Backlinks should come from a unique referring domain

1.Backlinks Should Come From Authoritative Websites
The higher your domain authority is, the better your chances for being ranked higher on search results. Similarly, when building backlinks, make sure you get them from a high authority website.
Google prefers links from high Domain Rating (DR) website sources.

2.Backlinks Include a Relevant Keyword-rich Anchor Text
You should always try to get links from an anchor text that has your keyword. It has been found that there is a high correlation between higher rankings and the keyword-rich anchor text, but don't overdo this.
Google’s Penguin update cracks down on sites that have a lot of backlinks with exact match anchor text. It’s in your best interest to use different related keyword phrases in your anchor text rather than focusing solely on exact match anchor text.

3.The Source Domain Should be Topically Related to Your Site
Getting links from high authority sites with a relevant anchor isn’t enough. You also need to ensure that the links are coming in from websites closely related to your niche.
For example, if your website is designed to sell real estate, the sites linking to you should have some sort of topical relevancy to real estate, whether directly or indirectly.

4.Backlinks Should Be Do-follow
There are 2 types of backlinks: do-follow and no-follow. Every backlink is do-follow unless a rel=”nofollow” attribute is added to the link. Here’s how a no-follow link looks like:
<a href=”http://example.com” rel=”nofollow”>anchor text</a>
Dofollow backlinks allow Google to follow them and reach your website.
Google and other search engines don’t count the backlinks that have the no-follow tag. So it is important to try and get links that are do-follow, athough this isn't alway something you have control over.

5.Backlinks Should Come In From a Unique Referring Domain
It’s better to get links from 100 different sites than getting 1,000 links from the same site because the total number of unique referring domains also correlates with high rankings.
A handful of rightfully-earned links from unique authoritative sites will have a much more positive impact on your rankings than dozens of purchased links from spammy sites.

How to Get Backlinks With High-Quality Content
The best way to capture the attention of other publishers and build high-quality backlinks is by ensuring your website has high quality, informative content.
Unfortunately back links rarely "just come" - you need to have a marketing strategy before and after publishing the content.
Create content that is unique and make it is visually stunning. Instead of writing for the search engines, write for the users and try to solve their problems. You will be surprised to see the number of backlinks you get.

Resource Pages Link Building
Resource pages usually add links to various websites on the internet that are related to their topic.

These pages are there for the sole purpose of linking to valuable resources, which makes them a prime target for a link building campaign.
More often than not, the owners of such pages will say yes when you ask for a link from that page provided that your article is worthy enough to be on that page.
Send a personal email to the contact on the website that you want to request a backlink from - this link can help you find contact email addresses for a website (domain) - www.hunter.io.

Broken Link Building
Broken Link building is one of the most effective ways of building links.
Broken links are links on a website that are no longer working. This could be due to a number of reasons. Big websites sometimes forget to check for 404 links, this can be an advantage for those who are doing broken link building.
The process is simple, you identify broken links on a page as a gesture of goodwill and then you pitch in your own related content.
Since resource pages have a lot of links, looking for broken links by checking each link individually will take a lot time. There are two ways you can do this quickly
Try this website to get a list of broken links from any website - www.brokenlinkchecker.com - do a check on your own website first and make sure you don't have any broken links - contact us if you do and we will sort it for you.

Contact the website that has the broken links and inform them about it. Ask them if they would be willing to replace the broken links with links to your website.
This is an easy way to earn a lot of good backlinks.

Link Roundups
There are websites that link out to outstanding content regularly. If you have such content pieces that are worth getting a link from the roundups, you can reach out to them.

Link Reclamation
This is the process of reaching out to websites that have mentioned your site without linking to it.
Reach out to them and ask them to link to your unlinked brand mention.
But how do you find unlinked brand mentions?
Try www.buzzsumo.com.

Get Backlinks through Reverse Image Search
If you publish a lot of visual content, then there is a high chance that people might be using your content without giving you credit.
If you find sites that are using your visual content without attribution, you should reach out to them and ask them to link back to you. Most of them will comply because of the Digital Media Copyright Act (DMCA).
Use Google images to find people using your images without a link.

Guest Post Opportunities with Reverse Image Search
When you are hunting for backlinks, you come across many articles by your competitor on different websites. This presents a huge opportunity, as you can pitch all these sites that agreed to feature your competitor's links.

The process is simple. All you have to do is grab the image of your competitor and then use Google image search to see exactly on which sites your competitor has been featured.
Then reach out to the sites that have created links to your competitor's website and ask them if they would be open for another link.

Don’t Ask For a Link in Your First Email
Asking for links in your first email can backfire. We won’t say that it doesn’t work but sometimes people get offended by the straight-up request.
In our experience, feeler emails tend to perform better than a direct pitch. This is also the case with follow-ups. People take you seriously if you send in a second email because it shows that you really want to interact with the website owner.
But then again, it all depends on your judgment. Sometimes sending out a direct pitch works, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s better to try both approaches and see what works for you.

Always Follow Up to Your Emails
If you are serious about marketing your content, then you will need to follow up to your emails. Most of the times people miss out on their emails or they just don’t bother replying for whatever reasons. Your job is to be persistent, not to the extent that you end up in their block list but just enough to get a response out of them.A single follow up email should do.